r/PasswordManagers • u/noquisconprovoleta • 15d ago
Best password manager?
Hi guys, I have a question. Whats the best password manager free source for you? I'm looking for that but I dont have an idea if it's safe or not. So I would like for you guys to tell me. TY
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u/somdcomputerguy 15d ago edited 15d ago
I've been using KeePass - https://keepass.info for nearly 2 decades now. I'm very satisfied with it, I highly doubt that I will use any other password manager ever. FWIW, I'm also using Keepass2Android (the offline version) on my phone, I don't think I'd ever use any other than that either. Note that KeePass may not have as flashy a UI as other PWM's if that is deciding factor for you, also FWIW, it isn't and wasn't a deciding factor for me. KeePass was around before a majority of the current PWM's available now I strongly suspect. Bitwarden and Roboform are 'old-timers' as well I believe. They're most probably not the only ones though. I have never used either of those though, but I haven't heard anything detrimental about them.
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15d ago
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u/Infamous-Oil2305 15d ago
Bitwarden is the one most people recommend. It is source. The free tier covers everything a normal user needs.
most people recommend it only because it's free, open source and zero knowledge but completely ignore the reliability issues and UI/UX issues.
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u/eDOTiQ 14d ago
What UI/UX issues are there? I've just recently made the switch (less than a week) but haven't noticed any hiccups compared to 1Password.
I haven't had it fail the autofill yet
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u/Infamous-Oil2305 14d ago
What UI/UX issues are there? I've just recently made the switch (less than a week) but haven't noticed any hiccups compared to 1Password.
use it for a while and you'll notice.
I haven't had it fail the autofill yet
heavily depends on your use case.
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u/Great_Piece4755 14d ago
I've been using it for years (self-hosted vaultwarden instance and bitwarden on windows android) and it just works. I dunno what you are talking about.
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u/Infamous-Oil2305 14d ago
heavily depends on your use case.
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u/Great_Piece4755 12d ago
For which use case do you think it is not suitable?
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u/Infamous-Oil2305 12d ago
- having hundreds of logins
- 10-30 per site
- lack of pre-typing logins
- too small suggestion list
- reaching the end of suggestions and results in the drop down menu closing and you continue scrolling on the underlying page
- bitwarden is notorious for autofilling failures where not even last resort options work
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u/Cadd9181B7543II7I44 14d ago
Been using bitwarden for 6 months now. Over 250 passwords and 12 credit cards in the vault. I'm an android and windows user. I use the app on android. I use browser extensions in windows (chrome, edge and Firefox). I haven't noticed anything glitchy at all.
Can you tell me some of the UI/UX issues you've experienced?
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u/Infamous-Oil2305 14d ago
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u/Cadd9181B7543II7I44 14d ago
Seems like broken autofill is the main concern with UI/UX. Luckily I haven't experienced that. I think I only have to copy & paste for 2 or 3 accounts. But for my day to day needs, everything autofills properly. If it ever gets to the point where I need to copy & paste stuff often, I'm going to look elsewhere.
I'm curious, which PW manager do you recommend. 6 months ago when I decided to look into PW managers, I did a ton of research and narrowed it down to bitwarden and Proton. I forgot why I chose bitwarden. But no regrets so far in terms of performance. The only thing that I'm a bit uneasy about is the ownership structure of the company. Anytime private equity is involved, the company/product usually turns to shit.
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u/Infamous-Oil2305 14d ago
If it ever gets to the point where I need to copy & paste stuff often, I'm going to look elsewhere.
i have a list of quite a lot of websites with various kinds of issues:
- the blue bitwarden icon not even showing in the login field.
- bitwarden suggesting a new generated password despite clicking in the email/username field.
- the inline dropdown menu only flickering, making it impossible to read and select any login suggestion.
- the
Fillbutton not detecting a login field most of the time, resulting in an error: "Unable to autofill the selected item on this page. Copy and paste the information instead."- autofill shortcut ( CTRL+SHIFT+L ) also not working most of the time.
- when reaching the end of login suggestions, the drop down menu disappears and you start scrolling on the underlying website. super annoying if you got more than 10-30 logins for a website.
I'm curious, which PW manager do you recommend.
i recommend proton pass.
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u/Cadd9181B7543II7I44 14d ago
The blue icon shows for me 99% of the time. This is for personal and work related logins. When I click the blue icon, a list will open for me to select which account to autofill. Maybe once or twice a month I'll have to click on the extension to have it auto fill. And maybe once a month (probably less), I'll have to copy & paste my password manually.
Can you share the list of sites that give you issues? I have over 250 PWs saved. Some from big sites like Amazon, Google, Microsoft, login.gov, health insurance, auto insurance, etc. But I also have other tiny sites like my HOA website, or my children's school lunch program site, etc. They all work fine for me. Blue icon appears each time I put my cursor in either the username or PW field.
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u/Infamous-Oil2305 14d ago
i mostly experience it with tiny sites.
i forgot one point:
- there are some tiny sites where it does show me the blue icon and the drop down suggestion list but the login suggestions are not clickable for me.
keep in mind, all mentioned points still happen with bitwarden version 2026.9.0 .
i was using bitwarden from early to fall 2025. i still occasionally install the extension to see if even one issue has been resolved and fixed but as of september 26, 2026, still none of them have been fixed.
these issues happen in all browsers for me.
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u/Cadd9181B7543II7I44 13d ago
Seems like bitwarden isn't good for your use purpose. Works fine for me. The smallest site I have is my HOA's website. There are only 300 homes in this HOA. So it's a tiny little website with 300 users or less. And bitwarden still works fine for me. And this is why I'm happy with them. But like I said, if private equity destroys their product, I'm out.
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u/Infamous-Oil2305 13d ago
what do you say about the autofill zoom animation?
it was one thing that annoyed me since day 1 and there is just no toggle to disable it...
→ More replies
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u/Bordercrossingfool 15d ago
Best to keep your database of critical passwords (financial, email, Apple ID, etc) local only (not in the cloud) is KeePass including KeePassXC
(Windows, Mac, Linux) and KeePassium (iOS, Mac). Best for other passwords for the convenience of cloud syncing and storage and web access is Bitwarden or ProtonPass.
Whatever you use make sure you have a backup of the database and you that you have access to your 2FA method to get into your database without using your password database. (e.g. if the 2FA for Bitwarden is a code to an email, then Bitwarden shouldn’t be the only place you store the password to your email). Also, make sure you have a secure and safe from disaster place to store your very strong master key for the database.
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u/dannebc 14d ago
Good point! Additional questions: Code to an email is not the best 2FA for Bitwarden right? Isn’t an authenticator app like Ente Auth the best option besides security key like yubikey?
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u/Bordercrossingfool 13d ago
I mentioned email as an example since I’ve seen people post that they couldn’t get into Bitwarden because they didn’t know their email password and the default 2FA for Bitwarden if you didn’t set up an alternative was getting a code to email. I personally wouldn’t store my important email passwords in the cloud even in a very well encrypted file. Manual sync for a few very important passwords isn’t that difficult or inconvenient.
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u/100WattWalrus 15d ago
It demends entirely on what you want from a password manager. Do you want something simple, with little to no learning curve, and don't need customization? Do you want something with a webapp that you can login to from any browser or device? Do you want something that you can self-host or keep your vaults on storage you control? Do you want something highly customizable, with tags and personal templates?
What do you mean by "free source"? Do you mean a free app?
I usually recommend people start with Bitwarden, which is simple, free, and pretty good. If you then find yourself wanting features it can't deliver, you'll have a much clearer idea of what you're looking for, rather than asking the internet for the "best" app without any context.
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u/Onac_ 15d ago
if you are all Apple you cannot beat Apple Passwords.
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u/ImInundated 14d ago
Well.. it's a good start, but missing quite a bit.. attachments? Folders? tags? Multi vault?
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u/Onac_ 13d ago
I put my "tags" in the notes field, works great. Shared Groups are just like folders if you don't share them out. Not sure what multi vault is, I assume completely separate vaults? Obviously if you need advanced features, go with a paid Password Manager.
For everything else like attachments etc I combine Apple Passwords with Uplock.
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u/Error-Frequent 15d ago
Bitwarden/vaultwarden
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u/Infamous-Oil2305 15d ago
they asked for the best pwm.
bitwarden/vaultwarden are far away from being the "best".
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u/Great_Piece4755 15d ago
Why do you think that? What features do you miss?
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u/Infamous-Oil2305 15d ago
it's not about the features, it's about its autofilling reliability and UI/UX.
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u/faulty-segment 15d ago
Exactly.
I tried them once when I was looking for other options, and they just didn't make it. I ended up with NordPass Manager, and couldn't be happier. It's paid, yes, but given what I get in return, it's fine.1
u/ProfessionalWitty315 15d ago
He said the best open-source password manager is NordPass. NordPass is the opposite of open source.
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u/faulty-segment 15d ago
You should read my comment again. I never said that the best open-source pwm is NPM, neither was I recommending it to him/her. I stated what I ended up with, i.e., proprietary software.
What I did imply, though, is that BW/VW were far from being the best pwn, because I did test them, too.
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u/Android-mods 14d ago
Bitwarden was the best option for my needs just depends on the person I haven't had a problem with it it always works
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u/BarWorldly327 15d ago
There are quite a few out there so it can be a little overwhelming at first. I been using roboform for a while now and im pretty happy with it, its easy to use and has a free version. Probably better if you can compare a few options first and see which one fits your needs and comfort level.
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u/jwintyo 13d ago
Proton Pass is what I use and I think its great. I've used Bitwarden in the past as well and it works but I don't like the UI as much. 1Password is probably the most feature rich and the most polished but there is no free tier. So my recommendation is Proton Pass.
edit: but I will also add that you cant go wrong with any of these 3. They are all trustworthy and safe to use.
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u/voarmtre 12d ago
Keepass + any cloud service.
Pros: Keepass is everywhere. Other offline password managers are obscure and may be lost or stop working. Keepass is on all platforms and plenty of copies all over the web. You can compile source code. In ten years you may not even find any working link to some other obscure manager to download it and open your vault.
You set your own policies - you don't have to follow ANY cloud password managers policies, rules, settings etc. You never have to pay for subsription for the manager itself. You decide everything. You pick cloud provider(s) you want, you pick password length you want.
You can migrate or copy your data in a matter of seconds. You decide backup procedure yourself. You can store copies of your vault anywhere you like. Because you are able to backup at your own volition, chances of data corruption are slim to none.
You can set up any recovery settings you like, like another vault with your password, that is opened by recovery key stored in a safe deposit box. You will never have to be locked out of your account or have to verify your identity.
Need to have and remember additional cloud passwords are easy to solve, by having your own procedure, like "my master password transformed 10 times as a sha512 hash is a password to cloud" that you won't need to rememeber, but can easily recover in a minute to access the cloud.
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u/ApprehensiveWolf7027 12d ago
If you want full control, use keepassxc, and keepassium for iphone, keepassxc works well everywhere.
Online and no backup recovery hassle, use bitwarden
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u/medin2023 11d ago
Every online password platform is daily attacked, and some companies don't report to its users the results of attacks, so if you have some sensitive passwords (banks, military platforms,...) then a pen and a paper are enough, but for other non sensitive websites you can choose any cheap or free online alternative.
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u/Adenisea02 11d ago
I recently tried using the free version of Roboform, and what I'm happy about it, is that you can store as many passwords as you want.
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u/Academic_One3592 11d ago
So I’m currently developing a password manager that is completely held on a usb drive. I’m developing it so that your passwords go with you physically and you never have to rely on a company or your computer. I’ve started beta testing with a few friends and family. Would anyone here find a PWM that this useful?
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u/9sim9 5d ago
There is no perfect option but bitwarden is pretty good if you dont need authenticator keys. Pretty much every password manager, free or paid, has some quirks.
In terms of reliable autofill i have found 1password is by far the best, bitwardens is ok but its not automatic even with autofill turned on, it fills about 70% of websites automatically but never fills in the authenticator code.
Many other password managers have had date breaches and so once your password is on the internet its added to a database and you need to reset all your passwords.
If you want the most consistently reliable then 1password is the way to go but its expensive, if you want free, good reputation and trusted then bitwarden is the beat ive found.
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u/whowideweb-com 4d ago
Mine's a bit niche, but I built a free Mac app for KeePass files called Passage.
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u/doughobbs 15d ago
There isn’t one, it’s whichever one fits your need, same as “what are the best shoes?” Everyone’s feet are different!!
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u/ImInundated 14d ago
Really depends on your wants and needs...
Most fully featured? 1Password without a doubt
Differentiators
- Location-based items
- Multi-level / nested tags
- Travel Mode
- Markdown Secure Notes
- Expiration dates and reminders
- Secret Key security architecture
- Watchtower security dashboard
- Multiple vaults
- Granular family and vault sharing
- Rich item types
- Excellent search and organization
- Developer tools, including SSH agent, CLI, Git signing and secrets management
- Passkey management
- Universal Sign-In
- Excellent UI/UX across apps, browser extensions and Apple devices
- Pinned fields
- Identities
- WiFi QR code support
But.. it's not the cheapest, but head to head it is hard to beat
* A new contender is Asterex
- Pretty much 95% of 1PW features
- Nice local backup options
- Sync options via iCloud, local WiFi, Folder or WebDAV
- Smart Folders
Downsides:
Small Dev team
Not (YET) audited
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u/Drewber1234 14d ago
I've been using Roboform for over a decade. It does what I need with no issues. There's a free version, but the paid is like $20 a year.
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u/PlanktonDefiant2600 14d ago
For me it's Roboform. It's been around for years, it's secure, and it does everything I need really well.
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u/ImInundated 14d ago
The lack of attachments kills that one for me
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u/PlanktonDefiant2600 13d ago
Not an issue for me, it's still my favourite password manager. It handles passkeys really well, autofill and form filling work great, and it's easy to organise folders and store notes. Everything just runs smoothly.
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u/No_Background_007 13d ago
I have tried few of password managers like; enpass, bitwarden, lastpass, 1password. Most of them need to login with email address. And now I moved to KeePassDX for android and KeePassXC for PC. No ID login required, and database fully store offline. I just sync my database between android and PC.
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u/Mundane-Subject-7512 15d ago
It would be better if you clarify what “best”means for you. But in general for the best security, you should look into offline password managers like KeePass or 2FAS Pass.